Apple appeals piracy fine involving Chinese encyclopedia

Apple has appealed an $83,600 judgement in China over pirated versions of an encyclopedia sold on the Apple App Store.

According to “electronista” (www.electronista.com), Apple claims that it’s not responsible for the development of the content, nor did it deliberately engage in copyright violation. The appeal declares that the court’s ruling on the complaint was faulty, and added that the $84,000 fine was excessive and incorrectly applied.

In September a Chinese court ruled in favor of the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House in its suit against Apple that claimed the U.S. company was liable for the sale of unauthorized digital copies of its encyclopedia found on the Apple App Store. First filed in 2010, the suit claimed apps being sold through the store contained pirated versions of the copy-written encyclopedia.

Apple argued that it had no involvement in the development of the third-party apps; however, the court ruled the company was responsible as it both approved and profited from the apps’ sale. The publisher originally asked for RMB 530,000, or about $84,200. However, the final judgment by Beijing’s Second Intermediate People’s Court was RMB 520,000, or $83,600.